Eating raw eggs?

[brandongilbert]

Im going to start adding them to my smoothies...

Anyone have any experience?

[Dimond]

It's best to consume grass-fed eggs if you're going to eat them.

[emeadow]

I go cage free organic when I can, and have also heard the fertilized eggs are even better for raw consumption/health. I have never eaten the 'pasturized' ones, figure that defeated the purpose.

I can usually get fertilized eggs from a friend here at work who has chickens (not technically organic, but great little farm with super happy chickens), or through the farm I get my raw milk from who also usually has eggs.

The more raw eggs I eat, the more I tend to shop at local small farms, to be sure I am getting them from a clean and healthy enviroment, no overcrowding. I can drive around the country areas near town, and there are always signs 'eggs for sale' around the farms.

I have eaten raw eggs off and on for over 5 years now, never a problem. Some folks say to wash the shells, as they carry the most 'bacterial' risk, but I never have. If you are going to consume shells, would say scrub scrub before consuming.

[aggie]

i never tried it recently...i guess mostly because of health/safety reasons....i guess if you had a source you knew that was natural and organic it would be ok...it is funny you are talking smoothies...years ago we put raw eggs in beer to build up the constitution

[liamona]

I eat mostly raw egg yolks, and also make a raw egg mayo that I keep in the fridge for around two weeks. I aim for four to six yolks every day, which isn't hard because they taste fantastic and are really satisfying in savory or sweet dishes.

This may just be an urban BigAgra legend, but supposedly you have more of a chance breaking your leg going down a flight of stairs than getting a food-born illness from raw eggs from conventionally-raised chickens.

[Inthon]

Recommended.

[funchy]

It's an easy way to get food poisoning. Just because someone else ate some eggs and didn't get sick doesn't mean eggs don't make people sick.

For more info on Salmonella, a common food poisoning from eggs:
Disease Listing, Salmonella enteritidis, Generall Information | CDC Bacterial, Mycotic Diseases

"Salmonella enteritidis Infection

Egg-associated salmonellosis is an important public health problem in the United States and several European countries. A bacterium, Salmonella enteritidis, can be inside perfectly normal-appearing eggs, and if the eggs are eaten raw or undercooked, the bacterium can cause illness.... Unlike eggborne salmonellosis of past decades, the current epidemic is due to intact and disinfected grade A eggs. Salmonella enteritidis silently infects the ovaries of healthy appearing hens and contaminates the eggs before the shells are formed "

It's best to consume grass-fed eggs if you're going to eat them.

There is no such thing as a grass-fed chicken or chicken egg. Chickens don't eat grass like a cow does. They live on grains, some plant matter, and insects. You can have "free range" chickens which should in theory be allowed outside to scratch and forage for food, but with no standards on what "free range" means it could mean he's living outside of a cage but still in a dark overcrowded filthy shed. There are NO legal standards for "cage free" or "free range". All chickens can carry salmonella.

[funchy]

Just wanted to add:

WHY do you think it's a good idea to add raw egg to your drinks?

Would I be right in guessing you think you need more protein? How much protein do you get?

[scorpio1980]

Most people eat raw egg because eating them raw keeps more of the vitamins, and antioxidants availiable. Also its estimated only 1 in every 36000 eggs to be contaminated, and if you are healthy chances of dying from exposure is very very slim. If I eat 2 eggs a day raw it will take me 49 years to eat 36,000, which means chances are I will not get sick.

[DummyChef]

want to give it a try

[ginkgo]

As long as you are healthy, the food born illnesses are just a temporary inconvenience like getting a cold or flu. You can always brag they you ate a fetus today. I brag about eating fungus-- mushrooms.

Although something is wrong. They do not call it the white part and yellow part of the egg. They do not call it the yolk and the albumen.

[andrew112]

Originally Posted by scorpio1980

Most people eat raw egg because eating them raw keeps more of the vitamins, and antioxidants availiable. Also its estimated only 1 in every 36000 eggs to be contaminated, and if you are healthy chances of dying from exposure is very very slim. If I eat 2 eggs a day raw it will take me 49 years to eat 36,000, which means chances are I will not get sick.

Once those 49 years are up you will though.

[Barcs]

FYI, Salmonella does not come from the chicken eggs being raw, it's comes from the chicken. As long as you wash the shells (soap & water should work, although some use bleach) prior to eating them you should be fine. I wouldn't eat white eggs raw, though. Only cage free organic... and organic quail eggs. I eat them raw all the time in my salads. Many people are paranoid about raw eggs and rare steaks because they hear the horror stories about Salmonella on the news, but in reality the chances of illness are very low, and overcooking your steak or eggs is not going to prevent it. Yes, heat kills the bacteria, but the bacteria itself is NOT inside the shell, just like with steaks, it's not inside the steak. It's on the surface, which is why it's perfectly acceptable to cook the outside of the steak and leave the inside raw/rare.

[openeyes]

When I followed an all-raw diet I had 12-18 free range eggs per day, mostly in smoothies with 6 eggs each as they were a good calorie source with plenty of nutrients. My cholesterol level was excellent. Seven year later, I still have raw eggs on a daily basis, but since I'm no longer all raw and there are many other foods I enjoy, it's closer to 4 most days, generally cage free and local. So far so good.

[funchy]

Originally Posted by scorpio1980

Also its estimated only 1 in every 36000 eggs to be contaminated, and if you are healthy chances of dying from exposure is very very slim. If I eat 2 eggs a day raw it will take me 49 years to eat 36,000, which means chances are I will not get sick.

I'd be curious to see where you come up with the 1:36000 number?

I googled it real quick and came up with a very high % of infections in chickens:
"Consumer Reports tested a nationwide sample of chickens in 2003 and found that 49% tested positive for one or both bacteria. Since that time, leading chicken producers have stabilized the incidence of salmonella, but the presence of campylobacter has increased at a startling rate. The recent study found that 83% harbored campylobacter or salmonella."

The New York Times reported that up to 60% of chickens sold for meat in the US are infected with salmonella.

But for a moment, let's assuming you number is accurate -- that's not how probability works. It's 1:36000 which means your first egg could be an infected one. The odds of any individual egg might be 1:36000, not every 36,000th egg being infected. And it's possible to even get two infected eggs in a row.



Salmonella is more than a bellyache. It can send you to the hospital for several days. If you're younger, older, or immune compromised it can be extremely dangerous.
Salmonella Enteritidis; from the Chicken to the Egg
Possible Salmonella Deaths Rise to 11 - ABC News


"Three pathogens, Salmonella, Listeria, and Toxoplasma, are responsible for 1,500 deaths each year, more than 75% of those caused by known pathogens, while unknown agents account for the remaining 62 million illnesses, 265,000 hospitalizations, and 3,200 deaths."
Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States

Originally Posted by Barcs

FYI, Salmonella does not come from the chicken eggs being raw, it's comes from the chicken. As long as you wash the shells (soap & water should work, although some use bleach) prior to eating them you should be fine.

Please re-read the CDC article. The infection is inside the chicken, so washing the outside of the shell won't remove pathogens from the inside.

I wouldn't eat white eggs raw, though.

The color of the egg shell has nothing to do with an egg is organic, free-range, infected, or healthier. Shell color is determined by breed of chicken.

[ThoughtAddict]

From the CDC: Although most infected hens have been found in the northeastern United States, the infection also occurs in hens in other areas of the country. In the Northeast, approximately one in 10,000 eggs may be internally contaminated. In other parts of the United States, contaminated eggs appear less common. Only a small number of hens seem to be infected at any given time, and an infected hen can lay many normal eggs while only occasionally laying an egg contaminated with the Salmonella bacterium.

Disease Listing, Salmonella enteritidis, Generall Information | CDC Bacterial, Mycotic Diseases

---

Now, not every salmonella bacterium will cause illness. A healthy immune system can handle some bacteria. I wouldn't advocate knowingly eating the stuff, but the risk is relatively low if you're healthy.

I've eaten raw eggs using the Rocky method... I do not recommend it. No, I didn't get sick. But swallowing a whole raw egg feels akin to throwing up, but backwards. Throwing down, maybe? Really, it is just unpleasant.

[liamona]

According to figures collected by CSPI in "Eating Green," from 1990 to 2003 vegetables and fruits caused more foodborne illnesses than eggs (I wonder if the figures would be much higher now if you added in all the problems with spinach and peppers in the past two years?):

# of foodborne illness outbreaks caused by vegetables and fruit: 529; eggs: 329

# of people sickened by vegetables and fruit: 28,108; by eggs: 10,849

I guess we ought to stop eating fruits and veggies! LOL.

Seriously though, eggs are too nutrient-dense a food to give up just because of the small risk of contamination. It's hard to think of any other food that contains so many good things nutritionally as what's in a single egg.

They contain varying amounts of most all vitamins and minerals, but are especially rich in vitamin A, almost all the Bs especially B2, B12 and folate; vitamin D, selenium, arachidonic acid, DHA, etc., etc.

It is a great source of choline. According to the "World's Healthiest Foods" website listing for eggs:

Although our bodies can produce some choline, we cannot make enough to make up for an inadequate supply in our diets, and choline deficiency can also cause deficiency of another B vitamin critically important for health, folic acid. Choline is definitely a nutrient needed in good supply for good health. Choline is a key component of many fat-containing structures in cell membranes, whose flexibility and integrity depend on adequate supplies of choline. Two fat-like molecules in the brain, phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin, account for an unusually high percentage of the brain's total mass, so choline is particularly important for brain function and health.

In addition, choline is a highly important molecule in a cellular process called methylation. Many important chemical events in the body are made possible by methylation, in which methyl groups are transferred from one place to another. For example, genes in the body can be switched on or turned off in this way, and cells use methylation to send messages back and forth. Choline, which contains three methyl groups, is highly active in this process.

Choline is also a key component of acetylcholine. A neurotrasmitter that carries messages from and to nerves, acetylcholine is the body's primary chemical means of sending messages between nerves and muscles.

[emeadow]

I personally think it is more important to facilitate a healthy and balanced digestive track far more then it is to worry about bacteria within food. Eating fermented healthy foods, eating plenty of variety, probiotics, ect. I also believe in a reasonable exposure to bacteria on a day to day basis. I keep a decently clean kitchen, but its far from spotless. I do not use bleach or heavy cleaners, no chemical disinfectants, and I even avoid antibacterial soap (at least in my home). My biggest rule, I don't over think any of this.

An example of my exposure, I have fed raw food to my cats for almost 7 years now, which I prepare everything in my kitchen on my granite counters (which are supposed to harbor bacteria from recent comments I have seen). This means at least twice a day I am handling various raw meats, cutting them up, serving them on plates, using a scale, kitchen shears, ect. I do a super quick clean each time, but I am FAR from being a perfectionist, plus when you handle meat so often, there is a tendency to not pay attention as much to what you are doing (opening fridge, handles on the faucet, ect). I am sure unintentionally we have been exposed to raw chicken, rabbit, quail, turkey, on a pretty regular basis. My husband and I have never had a problem once from food borne illness. My cats who have eaten raw for that whole time have never gotten sick either, no bouts of diarrhea, nada.

Could something happen in the future? Sure, maybe...but I am never going to stop feeding my felines raw meat, their health is far too improved. Same goes for my foods, I will rinse my veggies and fruits (with water), I will keep eating raw eggs, raw fish, but I personally am not going to worry much about exposure. I know that mass farming has produced new strains of bacteria not seen through history, but I just do not feel a drive to stress over it.

My thoughts, keep your gut healthy, purchase what you can from local farms or from suppliers following some level of organic or more natural policies (for whatever that title is worth today), and I think your better off then avoiding every food that pops up on the news.

I wonder what was the normal diet and health status of those folks who do get infected with salmonella or E colli? Would be curious if there are more trends behind those stats then just '13,000 infected annually'. You start to wonder if the food 'alerts' are similar to the swine flu....just a hot button someone hits in the media to drive up sales on something else.....especially those clean and 'safe' looking prepackaged products.

[liamona]

Originally Posted by emeadow

An example of my exposure, I have fed raw food to my cats for almost 7 years now, which I prepare everything in my kitchen on my granite counters (which are supposed to harbor bacteria from recent comments I have seen). This means at least twice a day I am handling various raw meats, cutting them up, serving them on plates, using a scale, kitchen shears, ect.

I do the same for my pets as well. At first I was super, super-careful about cleaning the counters, but after years of doing this I have an extremely lackadaisical attitude towards bacteria.

I wonder what was the normal diet and health status of those folks who do get infected with salmonella or E colli? Would be curious if there are more trends behind those stats then just '13,000 infected annually'. You start to wonder if the food 'alerts' are similar to the swine flu....just a hot button someone hits in the media to drive up sales on something else.....especially those clean and 'safe' looking prepackaged products.

You can bet those figures aren't telling the whole truth. The FDA continually blames raw milk for problems that later turn out to be not the cause (see Sally Fallon's Raw Milk powerpoint presentation on this, starting at page 23).

[Aleksander Krstic]

I've heard raw yolks can consequent in food poisoning.

[brandongilbert]

ive been adding raw eggs to my elixirs the last week or so...ive been loving it so far!!

[pushbutton]

It sounds really disgusting. I think I'd feel sick even if I didn't get food poisoning!

[emeadow]

Originally Posted by pushbutton

It sounds really disgusting. I think I'd feel sick even if I didn't get food poisoning!

When I was doing my raw food trial last month, and couldn't figure out what ingredients to use with it, I did eat two eggs 'rocky style', just opened in a glass...ect. That was rough, but not the end of the world.

But mixed in a shake....say something with other fats like coconut oil, or yogurt, I have never really noticed the flavor of a couple extra eggs. Think egg nog for some recipes.

Originally Posted by liamona

The FDA continually blames raw milk for problems that later turn out to be not the cause

Sitting here enjoying my homemade raw milk yogurt at the moment....feeling right well with my choices and the small family farm that provides it. When I pulled up for my first delivery of raw milk and the farm owner and her two kids were loading cars with jars of milk and fresh eggs, everyone pitching in and happy to do so, the final piece fit for the decision I had made. Plus it makes a dang good yogurt or kefir.

[akoma]

Why not buy the white egg in a jar at your local store. A bit expensive but more nutritious.

[liamona]

Originally Posted by akoma

Why not buy the white egg in a jar at your local store. A bit expensive but more nutritious.

Aren't those pasteurized? They can also contain other questionable ingredients. I saw one brand at the store that contained "natural flavors."

As for nutrition, most of the vitamins are in the yolk. That's one of the reasons I tend to use the yolk and throw away the whites:

Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Egg, yolk, raw, fresh

Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Egg, white, raw, fresh